Mrs. Arthur Gist donated the letters which were received by her husband, Arthur Gist (President of Humboldt State College from 1930-1950), from students who were serving in the armed forces during World War II.  Dr. Gist maintained regular correspondence with the hundreds of HSC students who left school to join the war effort.  Approximately 1,000 letters from 365 service men and women are in this collection.  Letters from Dr. Gist are not included, but there is a related file of the Humboldt News Letter which was sent out from the College in 1944-45.

Dr. Suzanne Pasztor’s History 210 class used this collection in Spring 2007.  See Dr. Pasztor’s Introduction, the class assignment, and three representative student papers.

In Fall 2015, students from Janelle Adsit’s English 315 class used the Gist letters as inspiration for short stories.  Robert Papadopoulos's story " Out In the Pacific" was voted by the class as the story most worthy of publication.  

“ Humboldt State College: Memories of the World War Two Years” by Gayle Karshner appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of the Humboldt Historian.

Samples of the Arthur Gist Letters are included in the Cal Poly Humboldt Digital Archive.